What a difference a year makes, huh?
Almost exactly 365 days ago, Jacob Roloff quit Little People, Big World.
But the youngest son of Matt and Amy Roloff did not go away quietly. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Sick of the fakery all around him and at odds with his parents, Jacob wrote a blistering blog post in which he slammed TLC producers and his own loved ones for basically just making crap up as they went along.
“For the sake of ‘the episode’ and ratings I’ve seen a lot of STORYLINES drawn up (loosely) about our lives,” Jacob said last July.
He went on to scoff at the “ridiculous talking points” his family members spewed on camera, all of which were scripted ahead of time.
“The family that is filmed is not my family,” he said at the time, concluding harshly:
“They are the Roloff Characters and I have scarcely anything in common with them, nor do I want to be a character myself.”
And, with that, Jacob was out.
He removed himself from reality television… dedicated himself to traveling the Pacific Northwest with his girlfriend and dogs… and barely talked to his mother, father or siblings.
But time heals nearly all wounds and Roloff recently admitted that he knew many months ago he’d live to regret the way he bashed his family.
“I rebelled,” Jacob explained a few weeks ago.
“I left the show and I left the religion I was brought up with, and I left it in a pretty flamboyant way… Now I’m like ‘I don’t need to hate it.’ Essentially that is to say, I grew up.”
To make up for the time he lost, Jacob has been hanging out more at his family farm and gushing over his brand new nephew.
But he recounts what led up to his outburst last summer in excerpts from his new book, Verbing.
After reluctantly becoming famous on Little People, Big World, “I felt isolated,” Jacob writes. “And due to that, angry.”
And he often took it out on Matt and Amy.
“This led to arguments and miscommunications with family, especially my parents, culminating really in their decision to experiment having me see a therapist,” Jacob explains.
Just how bad did things get?
Roloff says he refused to leave his bedroom for days on end during the lowest points of his “rift” with his parents.
“I will leave you with but a few bullet points of the situations my mental overhaul wreaked,” Roloff says in the quasi memoir, prior to doing just that:
- Daily encounters with my mom ending with anything but a smile.
- Having little to no relationship with my siblings.
- Locking myself away in my room for all hours of the day, except to relieve myself or to unthankfully grab some food my mom had made.
“I was truly the epitome of a stereotypical teenager – a description I was given frequently,” he says.
Fortunately, Jacob has clearly gained some perspective over time.
Through peace, seclusion, philosophy and the practice of Zen Buddhism, Roloff is no longer angry.
He no longer has any animosity toward his parents.
He’s simply kicking back and enjoying life and sharing gorgeous photos from his time on the road.
This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see him again on Little People, Big World.
But for the sake of everyone involved, that’s probably a good thing.